Fall 2003

Still waiting on my grades: A few tentative grades, B- in Transport, A in metalcasting, and A- in thermo.

I updated the Radar 2003 page and the snow pics page to include the last few snow storms.

Going home hopefully tonight until sometime. It’s nice to have a few days off. It sounds like I will have plenty of work for me when I get back, and for the next year and a half or so.

Thursday, 12-18-03 at 20:28

Current grades: Physical Ceramics B+, Physical Ceramics Lab B+, Strength and Fracture B-. I am thinking I did pretty well in transport, as the final was relatively easy. The quantum final wasn’t as bad as I expected either. Thermodynamics is either an A or B, Metalcasting is either an A or A-, so this semester is pretty good.

I participated in the 10 meter contest this past weekend, and I have updated all the logs. Talked to three new countries: Netherlands Antilles, Poland, and the Cayman Islands (one from each!).

Snowing here, yet again. I will update the radar page and weather pictures soon. I just found I had a storm from August that needs to be put up too.

I added a strength and fracture page, but it’s not complete yet.

Saturday, 12-13-03 at 0:25

Classes ended this week. I have already taken my physical ceramics final, so that’s one less thing to do. I only have two finals left: Transport on Tuesday and Quantum on Thursday. Wish me luck.

I want to set up a weather station from my apartment. The wind
and rain might be affected by the apartment, but the other stuff will be ok. I want to get a webcam set up to make a weather cam too…. but I need the station and I need the software to run the cam and have it automatically post to my webpage. Any suggestions?

Speaking of cams, I found my old webcam and played around with yahoo and sent my friend Amy live pictures of my room, as seen by a radio controlled car. What a good idea! I need a longer cable. In an ideal world, I’d have a wireless camera that mounts inside the body of the car and can be controlled by a radio as well, so you can move the car or the camera. Oh, and you can control the radio from my website. That would rule!

Sunday, 12-7-03 at 11:58

Things that piss me off today:

1. Ceramics project, and how we do nothing related to ceramics anymore and how my contribution is nothing now that everything has changed.

2. Business and money

3. Those damn emails that I keep getting that pop up a hidden window that is impossible to close. Oh wait, that’s a good business practice, cause it’s virtually free to send a million junk emails, and some old person will be tricked into buying your crap. Someone’s stupid dotcom frat boy has a job while he drinks himself through college, and that’s important. These ads do nothing. I don’t want your damn product.

Tuesday, 12-2-03 at 1:52

Metalcasting page is up. Had to fix a picture, as I saw today one wasn’t loading.

The semester is winding down, and I have picked courses for next semester. If a meteorology course is added, I will add it. Otherwise, my classes next semester are: Polymer Engineering, Polymer Engineering Lab, X-Ray Diffraction, Kinetic Processes, Professional Development II, Engines/Power Trains, and Physical Geology Lab. Technically, I don’t need power trains or geology lab to graduate… but I feel like taking them, so tough.

Late Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Mine was pretty good, spent time with both sides of the family, did some shooting, ate some good food and all that.

Break is winding down and I didn’t get done near what I wanted to. I had a good time, but like I didn’t touch the Buick, didn’t clean too much, didn’t get too much done for school, etc. It has been fun though, so that counts for something.

I am adding a metalcasting page, so hopefully that will be up when this news update is posted.

Friday, 11-21-03 at 8:20

Sometimes it’s better to know things than to live in ignorance, even if it isn’t fun.

I found a bunch of music videos I used to have. One of the most brilliant is Reel Big Fish – ‘Everything Sucks.’ By the end of it, it’s like they made it in the mall for $5 hahahaha

I think it’s about time to go onto campus. Thermo is cancelled for today, but I have to go help move a professor at 10. I have transport and quantum, but I’m sure they will be abbreviated, so to speak.

Thursday, 11-20-03 at 2:19

Tomorrow is my ceramics presentation on Optical Computers. Should prove to be uninteresting haha.

I already spent most of my paycheck, but it was worth it. Being without steady income for like six weeks did a number on me. And that number was most definitely red. But it’s all good, I’m getting in the hours now and getting the pay twice a month. Can’t complain there.

It’s almost Thanksgiving again. I will spend part of break in Myrtle Beach, SC for a field trip and then the rest on the eastern shore of MD. Might even work a day or two at Horne’s just for fun (well and pay).

I accidentally screwed up my sideburns, so I just shaved them off. I might let them grow out again, but it will be when I’m not lazy.

Monday, 11-17-03 at 7:43

Yeah, ok, so I’m back on IM. That was short lived. I think I kill too much time on it.

Sunday, 11-16-03 at 17:41

Yeah, I decided to take IM off my computer. It’s stupid and I don’t like talking to anyone. If you want to get ahold of me, I have email.

Sunday, 11-16-03 at 17:41

Busy few days. I added the Wrecks page to the Car Page section.

We toured the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) on Thursday/Friday. It was at Savannah River, SC, so it is why I haven’t been here to post for a few days. First, our bus broke down on the way down. Spent 5 hours in Hillsville, VA. Jokes from that: Paul standing in the road pretending to be the corps of cadets guy stopping traffic and Greg risking life and limb to get a spoon in spoons in McDonalds. After that, we drove for a billion more hours and stopped at a Cracker Barrel. From there, Dr. Clark’s Neil Diamond comment was priceless, as well as piggyback races in the parking lot.

The tour itself was pretty good. Basically, DWPF takes nuclear waste and combines it with borosilicate glass where the waste acts as a network modifier and replaces atoms in the borosilicate. Cool stuff. They also had a meteorology division on site, so I liked touring that.

Last night we all hung out over Leigh’s for dinner. Good dinner, fun group of people, etc.

The Offspring rocks. Like there isn’t a better group.

Tuesday, 11-11-03 at 21:44

First off, I’d like to address the spam issue one more time. In the last three days, I sampled how many penis enlargement emails I get. In three days, it was 208. Each email promises three inches. SO… being the kickass super hero that I am, I decided to see how much that actually is. If I took up on their offers, I could potentially grow 208″ a day, which is around 17 1/3′. This means in a little under a year, I could grow my piece an extra mile. What would I do with my extra large penis? I’d screw every spammers wife. While I typed this post, I got two more emails of this nature. I hate the internet.

We toured Graham-White today. They do things on a much smaller scale, only a 1000 lbs of iron or so at a time, but we got to see sand casting a little closer. The iron was around 2500-2600 degrees F, so it was pretty hot. There isn’t much better than seeing a bunch of liquid metal being poured into molds on the floor… it looks like EVERYTHING is on fire hahaha

Sunday, 11-9-03 at 23:13

Late Happy Birthday to my brother, Jimmy! He turned 20 yesterday, so Suzi and I went home to bid him a good birthday!!

I have a statement for y’all to read: “Dear Seth: We are pleased to let you know that your article, entitled “The Life of the Amateur Storm Chaser,” has been accepted for publication in QST. Although we can’t say for certain when the article will be published, it’s our intention to have it appear as soon as possible.”. So there it is folks, I’m getting published in the most read amateur radio magazine. BOOYA!

I have walked to class every day now for like a week. I’ve only driven once a week for the past probably month. Now that it’s getting colder, walking to class is easier. Today was a bit hot, but eh, whatever. I need to do this, plus run at least four nights a week. “IF I DON’T LOSE ANOTHER 20 LBS, I’LL NEVER BE PRETTY!!!” -Dr. Weird

And because I forgot to announce it yesterday, my ham radio computer has been running for 100 consecutive days without a reboot as of the 2nd. Go Windows 2000, Go!

Sunday, 11-2-03 at 13:29

I’m getting really bad about posting.

Friday was awesome. I did pretty well on my Transport test I do believe. Then Liz and I went looking for an apple orchard, but when we found it, it was almost dark, so it was closed. We got dinner at Outback and went home, but definitely had a good time.

Yesterday, the Hokies spanked Miami. I didn’t see the game, cause Sarah and Jessica drug me shopping… But I did give Sarah some sugar at dinner haha. Then we went downtown and watched the crazy drunk people. They knocked over a bunch of lamp posts and paper boxes. Closed off all of main street. The best part was when they knocked over a lamp post and this guy put the giant plastic bulb over his head. everyone laughed and then someone punched him in the bulb and it made a long BONG and he fell down. HAHAHA yay, Blacksburg. Oh wait, Superman in the tree was good too.

Monday, 10-27-03 at 20:26

So the pictures didn’t turn out, so I’ll have to wait for Amy to scan them or Suzi to download hers from her camera. I forgot I was in a weird forced indoor mode, and we took pictures outside. BOOO

I have moved and slightly updated my computer games page. Finally, the link is active!

The first round of tumbling gravel is done. I have finished the rough grit. I do not have any fine grit, and I have plenty of prepolish, so I will just prepolish for longer than normal. The rubber band drive belts break about once a day or so, but I have an infinite supply of them, so I’m not concerned.

Sunday, 10-26-03 at 17:32

Sweet, went home for the weekend! Home was pretty cool, got to see all the hurricane damage. It was pretty bad, the whole skyline has changed around my house. There are still trees down all over the place.

Ham logs are updated, as are my targets and current fish.

Stay tuned for a new times photo update.

Friday, 10-24-03 at 15:39

Busy, yet nice week. I didn’t get much chance to post as I actually had time to relax, believe it or not.

I got promoted to Undergraduate Research Assistant and will be doing research work starting today. It’s pretty cool, but I’m not gonna talk about it on here. Just take my word for it, it’s cool.

I replaced my car battery yesterday cause mine was only holding a charge for a day or so. My alternator is still running strong, so that’s good.

I made two contacts today on ten meters, which was incredibly active! Italy, first thing this morning and then Dominican Republic, which I believe is a new country for me. The log will be up soon. Heard a bunch of European stations and a Cape Verde Islands station as well.

I made a pretty cool looking bar graph for thermo: the z axis is entropy, and the other two form the periodic table. I’ll post it here later on.

Monday, 10-20-03 at 20:05

I think I did pretty well on my thermo presentation. I have the paper and the abstract written, so I just need to write the environmental statement and references and then compile the whole thing.

Even though I didn’t have class until 12:20 today, I was up and on campus at 8 to help move boxes and such for the department. Money is cool.

I had a really good time this weekend, thanks to Amy, Beth, Leigh, Leigh’s parents, and Jessica! The Renaissance Fair was pretty cool, and Amy gave me a tour of GMU and we caught up on a lot of goings on.

Next, I would like to point out a few new pictures. This car was in our parking lot one day, and it was brilliant (another pic). A few pictures from the Renaissance Fair are up in the New Times photo gallery. Also, this is Morse, the cat, who seems to hang around (or in, if you leave the doors open!) the NRWA clubhouse.

A side note: N3MRA (my ham computer) has been running since July 25, 2003 at 2:47:26 UTC, so this means 87 consecutive days without a reboot. BOOYA.

Thursday, 10-16-03 at 20:19

Thermo presentation tomorrow! I’m nervous cause I hate speaking in front of other people. My topic is ‘Thermodynamic Models of Earth’s Atmosphere.’ I’m almost done with the paper, which is due Wednesday.

I really should clean up my room. It’s looking pretty run down, just cluttered I mean. I’ll do that after I finish the thermo paper and the transport homework for Monday.

I’m going to the Renaissance Fair this weekend with Beth and Leigh. Then I’m getting to visit Amy. It’s gonna rock. After tomorrow’s presentation, it better!!

Sunday, 10-12-03 at 23:40

Transport HW makes no sense. BOOOOOOOO

Here’s a link of some guy that flipped his car too. I’m not the only one!

It’s almost time for Aqua Teen Hunger Force!

Saturday, 10-11-03 at 19:14

I’ve updated my Mobile QSOs and all the last few days. I got my first Azores Island from here. Not sure why there is a sporadic opening, but I’m not complaining. I tried to do the 10-10 Sprint yesterday, but conditions were horrible.

Too much to do recently, but soon I’ll have some cool pictures to post.

Thursday, 10-9-03 at 11:21

This week is going by so fast. There’s so much to do: I have a Matlab due tomorrow (was supposed to be a final paper, but it got moved back), Monday, I have a Ceramics Lab progress report and transport HW due, Wednesday I have a Quantum lab report due, Thursday Ceramics HW due, and next Friday, a presentation to give on my thermo paper.

I overslept this morning, mostly because I somehow got the alarm clock cable wrapped around my arm and unplugged it. Figures. So when I did finally get up, I went to Walmart to get my prescriptions that I dropped off on Sunday. Sunday, they told me they had to call the doctor about them, since I was out of refills. I mean, he told me I’d be taking this stuff for the rest of my life. Should I take the refill limit as meaning I don’t have much time left? Anyway, today I go in and they STILL HAVEN’T CALLED.

Jason and I are working on making a version of TinyWeather that will use GPS data to realize that if your velocity is not zero, the wind speed is probably wrong. We will see what we actually come up with.

Sunday, 10-5-03 at 19:17

Yesterday, I went out to the range and shot a bit. Took my marlin and a box of Federals and shot 1 1/4″, 10 shot groups at 50 yards, and was consistently breaking clay targets at 100 yards. Let’s hear it for accuracy!

Last night, or should I say this morning, Amy, Sarah and I went to IHOP to briefly work on homework…and to forget about homework. I got a little help on my transport, then Sarah knocked coffee on it!! BOOOOOOOO

Today was the Pignic for the New River Wireless Association. It was a good time! Chrissy didn’t come down due to technical difficulties, but we had about 11 or so show up. Chicken, hamburgers, chips and cake..mmmmm

This weekend was the California QSO party. Last year, I made 30 contacts. This year, I made one. I’ll update my ham page soon.

Saturday, 10-4-03 at 14:08

Man, I’m the best at posting! It’s been a while, but it’s been busy!

Tomorrow is the Pignic for the New River Wireless Association! WOOHOO! Chrissy is gonna visit!!

Yesterday, we toured Roanoke Electric Steel. That place rocked! Everywhere I looked there was hot metal, fire, scrap, or overhead cranes!!

Saturday, 9-27-03 at 21:17

I need to get a new battery for the Nova. This one refuses to hold a charge for more than a few hours. BOOOO! I need to change the oil to, I will probably do that this week.

Yesterday, I got my turtles back from Suzi, Beth and Leigh. They did a good job of taking care of them, but they are happy to be home. I am letting them run around the room right now, which they seem to be enjoying haha

Say hello to the MSE department’s newest employee!!! I start Monday.

If anybody is looking to donate money to a good cause, I could use an Icom 718. This is as cheap as I’ve ever seen one!

Thursday, 9-25-03 at 16:54

So I stayed in Quantum Physics, despite the challenge. It might be a bit rough, but I have some faith in this.

I went to a career fair on Tuesday and got some free stuff, and that is always cool.

Not too much to post today. My parents are still out of power and will be for some time. Isabel wrecked KG and Colonial Beach pretty hard.

Sunday, 9-21-03 at 16:54

Through the Weather section, there is Hurricane Isabel data that I collected from various websites.

Sunday, 9-21-03 at 16:06

Hurricane Isabel wrecked my hometown. The Dahlgren-King George-Colonial Beach greater metropolitan area got pwned. Power could be out for up to two weeks, flooding, trees down. Full story at http://www.fredericksburg.com

I finally solved my Carnot cycle matlab problem. Man, it took little more than ten minutes once I thought about it the correct way. Go me.

I’ve been toying around with getting a Geological Sciences minor. I only need a few courses; well, ok I’ve taken one. But the MSE program has a few courses that overlap with Geological Sciences and it will help me if I have to seek grad school outside of Virginia Tech.

Last night, I watched Customer Service and The Donors rock out at More Than Coffee. I think probably the best song was ‘Cornered’, followed up by ‘Soap On A Rope’ and ‘War.’

Wednesday, 9-17-03 at 0:44

I’ve been bad about posting. Sue me.

Hurricane Isabel, or shall I say Hurricane ‘I can’t stand cold water, boohoo’ wimped out. It’s only a category 2 now, which is about what I expected- so hopefully the east coast is spared this time. I’m keeping an eye on the eye. What a bad.. forget that happened.

I’ve been under attack by spiders recently. BOO. I hate spiders. The first one was in my window. He was a big October spider that got owned by a hammer. The second one was in my Buick. He was a jerk, so I sprayed him with carb cleaner.

Monday, 9-8-03 at 18:44

Today marks the first day I have fallen asleep in class this year. This makes the first two weeks of continuous class awakedness probably ever. I remember falling asleep in class as far back as 1st grade. Even so, I fell asleep in Quantum, and he was going over the same point over and over, and I understand it, so I don’t feel so bad.

We picked up a copy of Civ III Play the World today at Target. Should prove to be fun. We are gonna try to network a game here and then maybe get some more people involved with it.

Storm Chasing as told by Mr. T.

Sunday, 9-7-03 at 10:42

Wow, I thought for sure I posted between now and Monday….

My Ceramics Lab is now on Mondays. This frees up my Friday afternoons, unless I actually get the job working in computers at the Bookstore.

I picked out my paper topic: Thermodynamic Cycle of the Atmospheric Upward Heat Convection Process, which was found in the February 2000 Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics journal.

Robyn and Derrick were down at VT this weekend, so we hung out and had a pretty good time. Shot a bunch of pool, and I managed to lose quite a few games!

My Materials Engineering Professional Development I class got cancelled for the semester, as we do not have a professor for it. It is only one credit, and I can pretty much take it any time (it’s only a prerequisite for the spring semester development course) so no loss really.

I did some searching for a research paper today at the library. It seems every meteorological journal is more interested in the ozone than convective meteorology. BOOO. There were a few, so I should have a paper picked out here soon to use as an ‘inspiration paper’ as is required by the assignment.